The Remains of the Day: Difference between revisions

Line 9:

* [[British Stuffiness]]

* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]: Stevens wouldn't spit it out if you paid him.

* [[Head in The Sand Management]]: Lord Darlington is actively involved in appeasing the Nazis. He has Chamberlain himself at the house at one point, with Ribbentrop and Halifax, to persuade him to meet with Hitler (and to have the king meet with him too).

* [[Head-in-The-Sand Management]]: Lord Darlington is actively involved in appeasing the Nazis. He has Chamberlain himself at the house at one point, with Ribbentrop and Halifax, to persuade him to meet with Hitler (and to have the king meet with him too).

* [[The Comically Serious]]: Stevens is only just coming to realize that in certain situations he's expected to come out with "witticisms," and is studying a radio program called ''Twice a Week or More'' [[Don't Explain the Joke|("which is in fact broadcast three times each week")]] for ideas. Every time he has to make a joke, he dissects the subject before and afterward in a typical [[Wall of Text]].

* [[Did Not Get the Girl]]

Line 20:

* [[Last-Name Basis]]

* [[Married to The Job]]: Stevens is, to the point where he believes he shouldn't be seen off-duty by anyone, at any time.

* [[My Master Right or Wrong]]: Various characters espouse the belief that the ruling class are the only people equipped to handle political problems. Stevens tells himself and others that his only responsibility is to Lord Darlington, and that he has no business having opinions on Darlington's political activities. At the end, after realizing he's spent his life effacing himself for the sake of being as perfect a butler as possible, he understands that in doing so he's robbed himself of dignity, the very thing he thought he was pursuing. However, the man he's talking to tells him to think of his future instead of his past, [[Ignored Epiphany|and he concludes that such demoralization is]] [[Inherent in The System]], and that the best thing he can do now is work on improving his "bantering skills" before Mr. Farraday comes home.

* [[My Master, Right or Wrong]]: Various characters espouse the belief that the ruling class are the only people equipped to handle political problems. Stevens tells himself and others that his only responsibility is to Lord Darlington, and that he has no business having opinions on Darlington's political activities. At the end, after realizing he's spent his life effacing himself for the sake of being as perfect a butler as possible, he understands that in doing so he's robbed himself of dignity, the very thing he thought he was pursuing. However, the man he's talking to tells him to think of his future instead of his past, [[Ignored Epiphany|and he concludes that such demoralization is]] [[Inherent in The System]], and that the best thing he can do now is work on improving his "bantering skills" before Mr. Farraday comes home.

* [[Nazi Nobleman]]: Stevens claims that Lord Darlington disliked the British fascist movement and was not an anti-Semite. He did, however, like [[The Baroness|a certain member of the British Union of Fascists]] quite a bit, enough to start talking about "Jewish propaganda," stop giving money to a Jewish-run charity and tell Stevens to fire two Jewish housemaids.

* [[No Hero to His Valet]]: Stevens insists all along that the criticism that has been heaped on Lord Darlington for his connections to the Nazis is overdone and unfair, and that Darlington was motivated by honor and generosity. As more and more details of those events come through, it becomes clear, and Stevens is eventually forced to acknowledge, that Darlington was at best extremely naive and misguided, and that he himself was worse in a way for relinquishing his responsibility to make his own moral judgements on his employer's actions.

* [[Nouveau Riche]]: Mr. Farraday

* [[Old Retainer]]: Stevens

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|The Reason We Suck Speech]]: At the end of the book, Stevens at last can articulate the truth about Lord Darlington and himself. Lord Darlington played [[Head in The Sand Management]] for the nazis, and at the end of the day, he could admit he was wrong and take the responsibility like a man. [[Shrinking Violet|Stevens never did anything for himself]], [[Tear Jerker|and he cannot say even that]].

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|The Reason We Suck Speech]]: At the end of the book, Stevens at last can articulate the truth about Lord Darlington and himself. Lord Darlington played [[Head-in-The-Sand Management]] for the nazis, and at the end of the day, he could admit he was wrong and take the responsibility like a man. [[Shrinking Violet|Stevens never did anything for himself]], [[Tear Jerker|and he cannot say even that]].

* [[Serious Business]]: Everything. Everything is serious business. Including "banter," frothy romance novels and giving [[The Talk]] to the boss's best friend's twenty-three-year-old son.

* [[Spock Speak]]: Stevens's characteristic style. This is funny at some times; at others, not.